More About Isabella Stewart Gardner And Her Museum

CaptionIsabella Stewart Gardner

Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum

Isabella Stewart Gardner, shown here in an 1888 portrait, was born in New York City in 1840. In 1891 she inherited $1.6 million from her father, David Stewart, who had made his fortune in the linen trade with Ireland and through investments in Midwestern copper mines. She and her husband, Jack...

Isabella Stewart Gardner, shown here in an 1888 portrait, was born in New York City in 1840. In 1891 she inherited $1.6 million from her father, David Stewart, who had made his fortune in the linen trade with Ireland and through investments in Midwestern copper mines. She and her husband, Jack... (Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum)

The building Gardner had designed to house her art collection is reminiscent of a 15th-century Venetian-style palace, with three stories of galleries surrounding an inner garden courtyard. The collection includes more than 2,500 paintings, sculptures, tapestries, furniture, manuscripts, rare...

The building Gardner had designed to house her art collection is reminiscent of a 15th-century Venetian-style palace, with three stories of galleries surrounding an inner garden courtyard. The collection includes more than 2,500 paintings, sculptures, tapestries, furniture, manuscripts, rare... (Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum)

Isabella Stewart Gardner sat for a portrait by John Singer Sargent in 1888, for which she paid him $3,000. Exhibited at Boston's St. Botolph Club, the work inspired gossip -- with some believing that it deliberately echoed the scandal sparked by the sensuous display of flesh in "Madame X," an...

Isabella Stewart Gardner sat for a portrait by John Singer Sargent in 1888, for which she paid him $3,000. Exhibited at Boston's St. Botolph Club, the work inspired gossip -- with some believing that it deliberately echoed the scandal sparked by the sensuous display of flesh in "Madame X," an... (Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum)